Pneumoperitoneum apparatus

Abstract

A pneumoperitoneum apparatus includes: a gas feeding conduit; a gas feeding flow rate variable section; a first pressure measurement section coupled with the gas feeding conduit; a conduit for pressure measurement; a conduit for pressure measurement coupling part coupled with the conduit for pressure measurement; a second pressure measurement section coupled with the conduit for pressure measurement coupling part, and configured to measure pressure in the conduit for pressure measurement; a gas leaking part configured to communicate the gas in the conduit for pressure measurement to an outside to leak the gas in the conduit by a predetermined leakage; and a control section configured to determine that the conduit for pressure measurement is crushed when pressure measured by the second pressure measurement section is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A pneumoperitoneum apparatus comprising:
 a gas feeding conduit including a first end configured to be coupled to a gas feeding source that feeds a predetermined gas and a second end configured to be inserted into a body cavity of a patient; 
 a gas feeding flow rate valve configured to regulate a flow rate of the gas that passes through the gas feeding conduit; 
 a first pressure measurement device coupled with the gas feeding conduit; 
 a pressure measurement conduit which (1) is different from the gas feeding conduit and (2) includes a third end configured to be inserted into the body cavity of the patient and a fourth end coupled with a pressure measurement conduit coupling part; 
 a second pressure measurement device coupled with the pressure measurement conduit coupling part by a relay conduit, and configured to measure pressure in the pressure measurement conduit to measure pressure in the body cavity of the patient; 
 a gas release included in the pressure measurement conduit or the relay conduit, and configured to pass gas in the pressure measurement conduit to an outside of the pressure measurement conduit by a predetermined leakage while (1) the gas is flowing through the gas feeding flow rate valve and the gas feeding conduit and (2) the second pressure measurement device is measuring the pressure in the body cavity; and 
 a controller in communication with the gas feeding flow rate valve, the first pressure measurement device and the second pressure measurement device and configured to determine that the pressure measurement conduit is crushed when the pressure measured by the second pressure measurement device is lower than a predetermined threshold. 
 
     
     
       2. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is a hole. 
     
     
       3. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is a tube formed of a material that has a property allowing the gas to pass through the material. 
     
     
       4. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is an opening/closing switchable valve. 
     
     
       5. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is provided on the pressure measurement conduit. 
     
     
       6. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is provided on the pressure measurement conduit coupling part. 
     
     
       7. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the gas release is included in the relay conduit. 
     
     
       8. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the pressure measurement conduit has an inner diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the gas feeding conduit. 
     
     
       9. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control operation of the gas feeding flow rate valve, to control the gas feeding flow rate valve to continuously feed the gas to the body cavity of the patient when a measurement value of the second pressure measurement device is equal to or greater than a predetermined set value, and to control the gas feeding flow rate valve to intermittently feed the gas to the body cavity of the patient when the measurement value of the second pressure measurement section is smaller than the predetermined set value. 
     
     
       10. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an electromagnetic valve provided on the gas feeding conduit, the electromagnetic valve being configured to switch between supplying the gas to the body cavity of the patient and stopping the supply of the gas; 
 wherein 
 the controller is configured to control the operation of the electromagnetic valve to continuously feed the gas to the body cavity of the patient when a measurement value of the second pressure measurement device is equal to or greater than a predetermined set value, and to control the electromagnetic valve to intermittently feed the gas to the body cavity of the patient when the measurement value of the second pressure measurement device is smaller than the predetermined set value. 
 
     
     
       11. The pneumoperitoneum apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the gas release is an on-off electromagnetic valve configured to be controlled to be on or off by the controller, 
 the gas feeding flow rate valve is an electropneumatic proportional valve, and 
 the controller is configured to
 bring the electropneumatic proportional valve into an open state and perform continuous gas feeding into the body cavity of the patient through the gas feeding conduit, 
 bring the on-off electromagnetic valve into an open state and cause the second pressure measurement device to measure the pressure in the body cavity while the continuous gas feeding is being performed, and 
 control the on-off electromagnetic valve to be in a closed state after the measurement of the pressure in the body cavity.